six days and counting
by roxygoth
Summary: what sort of crazy lesson has splinter come up with now?
1. Chapter 1

A matter of observation.

Hey Roxy Goth here. I know this idea had been done before, but I want to put my own twist on it.

I do not own Tmnt in any way shape or form.

"The problem is you take each other for granted." Splinter began. He was in the dojo, staring down at his four charges.

"No we don't!" Raph protested, but fell silent under Splinters gaze.

Raphael was lying – Splinter knew it. He's been observing them for the past month after a battle. The difference between this battle and the hundreds of others is that, they'd lost. Leonardo and Raphael had got into a fight about one of the elders orders, and while they'd been doing that Donatello and Michelangelo had been vastly outnumbered, it was only when Donatello went skidding into the edge of the building that the two elders realised they were in the middle of an actual battle; his hot-headed son had immediately gone rushing to his brothers defence, stopping the foot ninja's from killing him there and then, and Leonardo had rushed in front of the orange-clad turtle saving him from the same fate.

Needless to say after Splinter had dragged the story from a reluctant Leonardo he hadn't been exactly over the moon. He's lectured the blue clad ninja for about an hour afterwards, which earned said turtle a smirk from Raphael and the ever-hated statement. 'Now you know what it feels like'. However Splinter did notice afterwards that Leonardo made a conscious effort not to lecture the others as much.

As if that wasn't enough to convince him things needed to change, about a week after having them under observation, the rat had happened to over-hear Donatello muttering about Michelangelo's 'foolishness' while whittling away at something in his lab, and in turn the 'battle nexus champion' as his son had taken to calling himself, had been overheard complaining to Klunk that Donatello was 'all work and no play'.

The remaining three weeks had seen him ask Mrs O'Neil and Mr Jones for their opinion. Mr Jones had then reluctantly after a little 'prompting' admitted that Raphael used their 'evenings out' to rant about said brothers. Apparently according to Mr Jones his hot-tempered son complained that Donatello was always 'holed up in his lab working on some damn machine or other' Michelangelo was 'jus' really annoying' and Leonardo…

Well, Splinter won't repeat what Raphael said about Leonardo.

Mrs O'Neil had been able to fill him in mainly about Donatello's way of thinking. Apparently Donatello thought Leonardo lectured too much and was more leader than brother, Raphael was to rash and needed to 'think before he acts for god's sake!' and Michelangelo needs to stay out of his lab and 'stop being so inquisitive!'

So, he now knew the two middle son's way of thinking, it was clear what Leonardo though through the way he lectured the brothers, there would be a verse in his lecture which would outline everything that was wrong with them, but with no advice about how to put it right. Apart from in Donatello's case in which Leonardo's advice was generally. 'Stop drinking so much coffee and get some sleep before I'm forced to drug it!' Splinter was half-convinced that the reason Donatello stayed up so late was a sort of 'take that!' to his brother, considering the eldest was supposed to double as a leader it was not a reassuring thought.

Michelangelo was a bit more difficult but after listening at the door and asking Mrs O'Neil to 'tactfully talk to him' he's discovered that apart from his above thoughts on his genius sibling he thought the hot-tempered one needed to 'unwind and learn to take a joke' and the leader needed to 'stop repeating the same damn lectures because they're getting really old'

Another point in both Donatello's and Michelangelo's viewpoint was that both their older brothers needed to get along because it was upsetting them. Donatello hated the yelling and the fear of having to operate on one of them, and Michelangelo, although he accepted the brothers wouldn't always get along, had been heard telling Klunk. 'If they sent less time arguing and more time listening, then they might see that they're more alike than they think.'

This being a point which Splinter made sure to take into consideration.

And those were the events that led up to this little 'family meeting' in the dojo that was mainly Splinter explaining what was going to happen and his sons taking it all in.

Going back to Raphael's outburst, Splinter silence him with a glare and then continued. "Yes you do. And so I have come up with a plan. Tomorrow Mrs O'Neil will come down here as per usual, except this time she will be asked to take two names from a hat. The two names she picks out will have to switch personality. So, say she picked Raphael and Donatello, those two would have to effectively be each other, understand?"

Silence and then Leonardo asked carefully. "And how long would we have to act as the other person, Sensei?"

"Well, it's Sunday today. Mrs O'Neil will pick the names out tomorrow… that will be Monday so… we'll start it on Tuesday. It'll be a test, see if you can manage six day being someone else, sounds fun, no?"

From the look on his son's face the answer was definitely no. Splinter chuckled and left the lair, gleefully awaiting the next day.


	2. i have to be who now?

I have to be who now?

About two minutes after April walked through the door Splinter took her aside to explain what she would have to do.

"This is taking forever." Mikey moaned.

"Be quiet Michelangelo." Leo muttered, staring intently at the rat.

"He has a point though, fearless, how long does it take to tell someone they've got to take two names from a hat?" Raph was impatient. He wanted to know who he was switching with already!

"Hush up, they're coming over." On that whispered warning from Donnie, all four stood to attention.

Splinter smiled at them. "Relax my sons; Mrs O'Neil is filled in, are you not?"

He turned to the red-head who grinned. "Oh yes, it sounds like it's going to be a most…interesting week." She suddenly giggled, earning a look of bemusement from all four turtles. Girls, who'd ever understand them?

"Well, here we go. Mrs O'Neil, please do the honours?" April grinned wildly, fishing her hand into the hat Master Splinter presented before her. After rummaging around for what felt like hours to the turtles, she withdrew one piece of paper.

"Raphael."

Raph groaned, trust him to be first! He wondered who he was going to be paired with, Donatello he could survive, probably. Mikey…oh no, not Mikey…oh god it was going to be Mikey! And that meant Mikey would be him as well, for six days. 'Well, it's official, at the end of this week either me or him are going to be dead, preferably him.'

"Leonardo." There was a pause, and Raph found himself reconsidering his former statement, even the annoying 'battle nexus champion' had to be better than fearless!

Leonardo however seemed to be in shock. It was only when Mikey helpfully clapped his hands in front of Leo's face that he blinked. "Oh, sorry, I must have been a little out of it; I thought April just said I was paired with Raphael!"

"You are." Splinter glared a little at his eldest, who gulped. Okay not a hallucination, he really was going to have to be Raph for six days. 'Oh, god, help me now… no… retract that…kill me now!'

Meanwhile Donatello had cottoned on to an important realisation. "Oh no. Sensei…if Leo and Raph have to be each other…doesn't that mean…Mikey and me have to be each other!?"

"Yes!" Mikey punched the air. "I get to go in Donnie's lab!"

"First of all you go in my lab anyway, so I don't know what you're getting so excited about, second of all, sensei, he can't!"

Splinter raised an eyebrow. He had been expecting this. "And why not?"

"Because I have important things in there! Plans for the battle shell! My personal projects I've been working on for the last three months! EXPLOSIVES! Sensei, surly you don't want to find Mikey in a million little pieces!"

"I certainly do not." Splinter clarified.

"Well, that's what'll happen if he goes in there!"

Okay maybe his genius son had a point there. Even if the whole point of this was to teach them appreciation of each other, he didn't want any of his sons to come to harm.

"Alright. Here's' what'll happen. Starting tomorrow you will all take on the personality of the person you've been paired with. You will address each other as such as well, and treat each other like you would normally. E.g. Leonardo would treat Raphael like Raphael does Leonardo, got it?"

Nods all round, although Splinter noticed Donatello looked anxious. "Now, there are going to be a few ground rules as I don't want you to come to harm. First of all, battle. In an actual battle, NOT training, Leonardo will become leader again. You will switch weapons for the final three days, but not the first. Before patrol on those three days you will each take back your weapon. Leonardo, although you are Raphael I do not wish you to drive his motorbike. You can go out with Mr Jones; you can look after the bike, with Raphael's guidance, but not ride it."

Raph mentally smiled at that, thank the lord, if he let fearless ride his bikes it'd be up in flames before it left the garage.

"Raphael. I will allow you to continue to take care of spike, only because he is your pet and I do not wish for him to be confused by another body looking after him. As for meditation, for the first three days you will do half the amount Leonardo does, for the last, the full. Any objections?"

Neither Raph nor Leo had any. Splinter nodded; turning to his younger sons he began. "Michelangelo, as with Raphael you will be allowed to continue caring for Klunk. You will be expected to allow Donatello to play with your video games and read your comics, however, Donatello; you must treat them with the respect Michelangelo does, understand?"

Donnie nodded, frantically; privately wishing sensei would hurry up and get to him. "Michelangelo, you will supervise Donatello for the first three days, while he cooks, but not the last. Donatello, first of all I give you permission to lock ay explosives and personal projects away."

Don mentally sighed. At least that would be one less thing for him to worry about. "You can give him tasks to do, such as checking the lairs security, things like that, and for the first three days you will be supervising him, but not the last."

"Wait." Leo frowned. "Let me get this straight, for the first tree days we will be supervising each other doing the tasks us ourselves would do?"

Splinter considered. "Yes. But don't forget you will still be acting as each other. So Raphael will be supervising you, in the manner you would usually supervise him in. Do you understand?"

All four turtles nodded. "Fantastic. Well, enjoy the rest of the day as yourselves. The fun begins tomorrow." For me at least, Splinter thought.

Later that night different thoughts were going through each brother's mind.

Leonardo was thinking about having to act like Raphael. 'I can show him just how he acts.' He thought. 'After all if he's being me, there shouldn't be a problem. Maybe then he'll see just how rude he really is."

Raphael however was thinking similar thoughts. Except for him he had actually warmed to the idea. 'Maybe I can show fearless jus' how annoyin' his 'lectures' really are.' He grinned; this week was going to be a piece of cake.

Mikey was thinking on a similar train thought to Raph, maybe, hopefully, he could make Donnie see just how much time he spends in his lab. Seriously out of the 24 hours in a day, Mikey was sure Don spent about 20 of them in that little robotic prison.

Finally Donatello was nervous. Acting as the always-joyful youngest? That would be a challenge. And Mikey as him? The tech-loving turtle wasn't convinced. Sure, he'd been allowed to lock his projects away, and anything potentially dangerous, which to be honest meant there wasn't a great deal left in the lab, but surely the youngest would be in danger through sheer ignorance? On the plus side maybe this was the chance to get Mikey to see how annoying his constant interruptions were.

In the kitchen, the clock struck twelve.


	3. the first day

The first day.

See chapter one for the disclaimer.

The next day was…interesting to say the least.

The first day had seemed almost like a joke at first, one of Mikey's elaborate pranks. They did their best to act as each other, Leo trying his hardest to perfect Raph's speech, Raph doing his best to sit through 'Space Hero's' without throwing his sai at the TV, Mike attempting not to blow up Don's lab and Don reading everyone of Mike's comics [which he enjoyed immensely].

Splinter had spent the day trying not to burst out laughing. He had to give his sons credit; there were not doing a horrible job and actually seemed to be taking the task seriously. They had slipped up a couple of times with the names, but that was to be expected.

The switching of the tasks was going well, with Mikey's supervision Donatello had cooked an almost perfect meal [it was a little burnt] but at least it was edible. Mikey, with Don's guidance, had successfully managed to check the lairs security.

Leo's and Raph's were going interestingly to say the least. He'd heard Raphael shouting from the garage. "Carefully fear…hothead! You wanna scratch the paintwork?"

"Raph…Leo, I'm NOT going to scratch the paintwork!"

"Ya will! Ya getting' ya greasy prints all ovah it!"

"How exactly am I meant to clean it without doing so?"

"By being CAREFULL…"

"Like you were with my space heroes' dvd?"

"Look I'm sorry I accidently scratched it, but I'll make it up to you…"

It was then that splinter left and went to check on Donatello's lab. Within it were his two youngest sons, Donatello leaning lazily against the wall [a pose which splinter had never until then seen him do] and Michelangelo was at Donatello's desk, attempting to fix the t-phone by the look of it.

"Geez Donnie, how the shell do ya do this?"

"It's easy you just take the back of…"

"It was a rhetorical question; I wasn't looking for an explanation!"

Splinter smiled gently to himself, yes today had been a good start, although he suspected tomorrow would be better judging from the things he'd already noticed today, Raphael had been imitating Leonardo during training; he'd done it right, but he noticed his eldest son looking a little confused. Likewise when Raphael asked Leonardo to help him out with something Leonardo had replied.

"Shell, Leo, do I have ta? Wrestling' is on!" he would never forget the look on his hot-headed sons face.

Going over to Donatello and Michelangelo however, the youngest had spent the majority of the day in Donatello's lab. Donatello himself appeared to be confused by this and had asked Splinter why he was spending so much time in there.

"He's being you." Replied Splinter simply.

Donatello left the room with a thoughtful expression.

At about 2'0clockish Donatello had finally had enough [he probably thought his sweet baby brother was plotting world domination or something] and had tried to get in.

To no avail as Michelangelo would not open the door. Donatello had then done something Splinter had never seen his son do in his life. The conversation went like this.

"Oh come on Mikey please?" [Apparently his genius son had forgotten the switching name rule.]

"One – its Donnie, I'm you remember? Secondly no."

"Please?"

"No."

"Please?"

"NO."

"Pleeeeeease?"

"Nooooooooo?"

"Please, please, please?"

"No, no, no?"

"Pretty please with a cherry on the top and a huge dashing of sprinkles?"

"For the last time, NO!"

Donatello had then stepped back looking thoughtful, closed his eyes and then jumped up and down going. "Please, please, please, please….." [Repeat x 50] until the orange-banded turtle had finally had enough and opened the door. "Yay!" his normally serious and mature brother cheered and rushed inside. The look on Michelangelo's face was one of confusion and a little bit of fear.

And this was only the first day; Splinter couldn't wait to see how the next five turned out.


	4. Mr Jones and Mrs O'Neil

The second day.

The second day went much the same as the first, except this time with a visit from Mr Jones and Mrs O'Neil.

At about half 7 Mr Jones had automatically walked up to Raphael, who was in the dojo doing his meditation, Leonardo in one corner watching him. "Hey dude, you wanna come bust some heads?"

Raphael opened his mouth like he was going to say yes, then closed it again and made a visible effort to say. "Actually Casey, I'm in the middle of meditating, if you don't mind."

Mr Jones had looked confused, but then his face cleared up. "Ah, you still doin' this personality swappin' thing? So in that case…yo, Leo! Dude, you wanna come bust some heads?"

Leonardo jerked his head up in surprise and stammered. "W-well, actually, I'm, I'm supposed to be supervising Leo while he meditates." [His eldest had picked up the name thing pretty easily]

It was at that point Splinter intervened. "You may go. Your brother only has ten minutes left anyway, and for that I will supervise him. You go, and remember, you're Raphael. So make sure you stay out past midnight." Splinter never thought he'd be saying those words to any one of his sons, especially not Leonardo.

About half an hour after Leonardo had left the lair with Mr Jones and Raphael's meditation had ended; Mrs O'Neil arrived.

"Hey, is Donatello around?"

"I believe he is in his lab teaching Michelangelo something."

April gave a nod and wondered of in the direction if the lab. Inside it she could here Mikey going. "Oh SHELL! It bloody electrocuted me, AGAIN!"

"You get used to it. Now put the blue wire back and you should have it working again."

Frowning, she opened the door to see Mikey working on the toaster. Both boys looked up when she entered the room. "Hello, April." Donnie greeted. "Just teaching Mikey here how to fix the toaster."

"For the thousandth time, its DONNIE, I'm you – remember? Secondly how the SHELL do you have the patience to fiddle around with this once a week?"

"I find it soothing."

"You find fixing a toaster soothing? What the shell is wrong with you?"

"Hey, you find playing video games soothing and I don't complain about that. So, April, what's up?"

Biting back a grin of amusement April said. "Well, I need some help with my homework if you don't mind…"

"Sure thing." Don got up, but Mikey stopped him by putting a hand on his shell and forcibly pulling him back.

"Whoa there, genius, I mean er…amazing little brother of mine."

April let loose another giggle as Don rolled his eyes.

"I'M you, remember? That means I'M helping April with homework."

"Fine, but I'm coming to."

"Why?"

"Why? Because I'm supposed to supervise you with all tasks, that's why."

"Yes, but helping April out is hardly a TASK is it? It's something you do because she asks you, it' not like your under contract or anything. No, I'll help April you go do something else."

Donne paused, stared at Mikey, frowned and then stalked out the room. Moments later they heard the TV start up.

Back in the lab Mikey shot April a smile. "Soooo, where do we start?"

"Well, biology would be a good place to start…"

Half an hour later and Mikey looked exhausted, April didn't know why; she was the one who had been doing most of the explaining.

Mikey looked at her and said solemnly. "April? I have a question."

"Okay then."

"Why do you need Donnie's help with this stuff? You know the answers; you just explained the majority of them to me."

April paused and then admitted. "Mainly to help him."

Mikey frowned. "But, Donnie's a genius. He doesn't need any help."

"Not with the actual work, no, what I meant is, he likes the idea of school, but obviously not being able to go himself helping me out with homework is the nearest he can get to it. I pass of my old textbooks to him as well."

"You do?"

"Well if I didn't they'd only go in the bin, or to a charity shop, and he'd probably end up picking them out the junkyard himself. A least if I hand them to him I know they're readable."

"So that's helping him, how?"

"Giving him a taste of the outside world, without being under threat at the same time."

Mikey paused and then looking thoughtful said. "I suppose it does…"


	5. Leo and Raph

Roxy Goth here, thank you for your reviews so far, they mean a lot, anyway this chapter mainly focused on Leo and Raph bonding, although Donnie and Mikey do show up as well.

By the way I've never seen Leo lead a training session before in canon, although in fandom people seem to have him being hard on his brothers when leading them – so I ran with that. If you think Raph is being a little over the top remember, he is trying to make Leo see what his well-meaning 'lectures' are like for those on the receiving end.

I do not own Tmnt in any way shape or form.

The third day was the day things came to a head. It was after training. The session itself had been successful, in Splinters view, Leonardo however, clearly didn't agree.

"RAPH!" [Apparently in his rage the oldest had sacrificed the name rule for full effect]

His second son turned. "What?"

"You know what!"

"If I did, do you honestly think I'd be asking?"

His eldest took a deep breath and then said. "What was that behaviour towards Donnie? I never act like that!"

Ah, that. During sparing Raph had been up against Donnie. They spared for about 3 minutes before Raph managed to whack Donnie to the ground. Then standing above him he'd shook his head and said seriously.

"Honestly Mikey, what was that? I could block that in my sleep! I suppose you've been playing those mind-numbing video games again?"

From the floor Donnie muttered. "No, I've been in my lab, working on things."

There was a pause, and then Splinter spoke up. "A word after training, if you please, Michelangelo" [to avoid confusion Splinter had thought it best he play along with the whole name-changing thing particular as it was he who enforced it]

Donnie nodded.

The rest of training had gone well, there was one instance when Raphael had criticized Leonardo's flying dragon kick and Leonardo had looked ready to try it again – this time aiming for Raphael's beak, which was when Splinter decided to intervene.

Going back to the present time however…

"You always act like that, Leo! That is you during training!"

"No it isn't!"

"It is!"

"It isn't!"

"It is!"

"It is not!"

"It is so." That injection came from Splinter, who had decided to nip the conversation in the bud for fear of dying of old age before it was over. Looking straight at the blue-clad leader he said "my son that is truly how you act during training."

Seeing Leonardo's dumbfounded face, Splinter took the cue to leave…and listen outside the door.

"Is that seriously how I act?

"All the time."

"But…I thought…I thought I was helping."

Pause and then Raphael's voice came through. "How? By telling us we're crap at what we're doing and giving us a hundred ways to improve ourselves?"

"No! Well, yes on the improvement part…no that's not what it sounds like! Look, what I'm trying to do…"

"And failing."

"Will you listen for a minute? Yes I'm TRYING to help you improve your skills, but it's not because I enjoy watching you squirm, it's because I'm trying to make sure you don't die, okay? And alright I admit it, maybe I do go a little overboard sometimes, SAY NOTHING, but it's to keep you three safe. Get it? I don't know what I'd do if any of you three died, particularly not if you died at the hands of a couple of third-rate ninjas, and yes, I'm including shredder in that sweeping statement."

Outside the doorway Splinter but back a laugh. Saki would be furious if he heard that comment.

"Ah, shell Leo. Look. I'm sorry alright? I know me; Donnie and Mikey don't exactly give you an easy time…me especially. And yes maybe we scream at each other more than talk and yell until the humans probably think there's an earthquake, but…you know I love you right?"

A pause and then. "I love you too Raph, even if you do bug the shell out of me sometimes." There was another silence which Splinter took to mean they were hugging, however he didn't want to risk poking his nose round the door and ruining the moment.

"Well, then… are we done with all this mushy stuff? Cos if so I've gotta feed spike."

"I'll come to, it's about time spike realised there's other people in this house besides you." With a bout of rarely-heard laughter footsteps indicated the brothers were leaving.

With a smile Splinter set of for Michelangelo's room, looking for Donatello so he could have that 'word' with him. Sure enough there he was, chuckling at something on the page of 'green lantern', while lounging on Mikey's bed.

"My son."

At hearing his father's voice Donatello quickly put the comic to one side. "Hai, sensei?"

"We need to have a little talk, now when you said you've been in your lab working on things, did you mean that exactly?"

A pause and then. "Yes."

"Right. And, what have you been working on?"

"My projects."

Splinter frowned at that. "My son, I thought I made it very clear at the beginning of the week, you are to be Michelangelo, the only 'personal projects' Michelangelo works on is his drawings."

"Hai sensei. So…"

"So you are not to work on your personal projects any more, understand?"

Seeing his son's eyes lose a little spark, Splinter added gently. "It's only for a few days, look it's Thursday today, you only have three days left. And then you can get straight back to work, if you want, okay?"

Donatello paused. "Okay." He said, sounding a like a child.

Splinter gave fond smile. "Lunch in an hour, yes?"

"Hai Sensei." As Splinter left the room Donatello resumed reading the comic, although lacking the concentration he had before. Three days! He could not mange three days without inventing something! Although, actually reconsidering that statement, perhaps he could…after all Mikey's hobby was drawing, wasn't it?


	6. don and mikey

Hey! Roxy Goth here with yet another update. Just to let you know I have an apprenticeship now! So, I may not be able to update regularly – though I will try. So, you have a long chapter to keep you occupied until then!

I do not own Tmnt in any way shape or form.

It was Friday today – the fourth day. Today was also the day things changed, for one his sons had to switch their weapons. That had been interesting.

"I am warning you now, if my sai's are in any way damaged; I will use them to stab you, got it?" Raphael growled.

Leonardo nodded. "Understood, and vice versa with my katarna's." They stared at each other for a few seconds and then reluctantly exchanged weapons.

His two youngest were having an easier time parting with their weapons, Donatello was throwing Michelangelo's nun chucks in the air and catching them.

"Just don't swing them around too much." His youngest advised the genius, watching him. "Trust me if you whack them into your beak – it hurts like shell!"

Donatello stopped. "Alright. And be careful with my Bo, okay?"

"Sure thing, dude." Michelangelo smiled and spun the bo-staff in his hand: unfortunately he forgot that it was a lot bigger than nun-chucks and whacked himself in the head. "Sorry!"

"You're not reassuring me here."

The training session itself went well, although a little slower paced than usual, his sons did seem to understand how to wield each other's weapons. When Splinter commented on that, Michelangelo had replied.

"Well we should, we've watched each other training pretty much all our lives!" good point well made, my son. Good point well made.

His sons had retreated to their rooms for most of the morning only to reappear when it was lunch time. Donatello had, without Michelangelo's supervision, made tomato soup with bread.

Raphael stared at the food that had been placed in front of him, and then at the genius. "Really?"

The purple banded turtle glared and folded his arms defensively. "What do you mean 'really'?"

"Is soup _really_ the best you can do?"

"Unless you _want_ the kitchen to blow up then yes!"

"You've been making way more complicated stuff than this." Leonardo chipped in.

"That was with Mikey's supervision. We all know cooking in not my area of expertise."

"Yeah, you can say that again." Raphael muttered, lifting a spoonful of soup and sniffing it like it might be poison.

"It is very nice my son." Splinter said calmly, seeing Donatello looked ready to explode. This seemed to placate his son a bit.

"Thank you sensei." Donatello said politely, taking a seat across from Raphael. "It's nice to see SOMEONE grateful."

The rest of lunch was spent in silence. Until Raphael upon finishing shrugged and said grudgingly. "Not bad."

Seeing Donatello's beam of delight, Raphael quickly added. "I said not bad, don't get ahead of yourself, it's just soup, you're certainly no Jamie Oliver."

"Raph, leave it." Michelangelo looked up. "Cooking isn't easy."

"Yeah it is."

"Oh really? Then why don't you cook tonight's meal and show us just how easy it is?"

The hot-head paused and then back-tracked. "y-you know a-actually I can't you see, I mean I would normally obviously but I've just discovered I'm, I'm, allergic…to…er, kitchens." As he trailed of, Raphael's brothers burst out laughing and the tension was dissolved.

"Allergic to kitchens?! That's a new one!" Leonardo laughed.

"Oh dude! That totally has to go in the book of the world's worst excuses ever!"

Later on, after they'd all calmed down and could now look at each other without dissolving into laughter his sons went about their tasks. Leonardo went to Raphael's bike to clean it, this time without his supervision.

Raphael went to the dojo to meditate, this time for the full amount of time. "Kill me now." He muttered upon being reminded.

Michelangelo had gone to don's lab to work on his t-phone, which had suddenly stopped working yesterday.

And Donatello…had nothing to do. He'd watched TV; he'd played video games and read comics. It was boring. Sighing dramatically he threw himself back and thought. 'What would Mikey do now?' answer. 'Annoy someone.'

Suddenly Donatello shot up, causing Splinter, who was sitting in his arm chair, to nearly spill his tea in shock. Annoy someone, of course! Hadn't that been his original idea? To allow Mikey to see how annoying he was? He couldn't believe he'd forgotten. Well, that had to be remedied straightaway.

In Donatello's lab Mikey himself was close to tears. He'd been shocked about a thousand times, and still couldn't get the stupid phone to work. He needed Donnie here to guide him. He'd managed it with Donnie guiding him.

As if on cue Donatello swung the door open. "Here's your favourite baby brother! What are you doing?" he wandered over to the work-station. Mikey sighed and explained.

"I'm fixing the t-phones."

"cool." His immediate older brother turned around and sat on the bed. There was silence for 30 seconds until Donatello piped up.

"What's that?" he pointed at a random bit of metal.

"No idea." Mikey went back to what he was doing.

"Okay. What's that?"

"No idea."

"Okay, what's that…" this continued for about a minute and a half before Mikey accidently let one of the wire's slip and shocked himself again. "OH FOR THE LOVE OF PIZZA!" he threw the t-phone against a wall and put his head in his hands.

After that neither of them spoke. Then tentively Donatello whispered. "Mikey? Are you okay?"

A deep breath. "No. no, I'm not okay."

"What's wrong?"

"I…don't get this. It may as well be a foreign language. I mean seriously, Donnie, how do you learn this stuff?"

Donnie paused, considering. "Well…I don't know... I don't know how but I know I understand anything technical." He smiled. "Call it a gift."

"Yeah, lucky you."

Donnie frowned. "What do you mean 'lucky me?' you're lucky to!"

"Really how?"

Donnie frowned at the despair in his younger brother's voice, immediately came over to him and sitting on his desk said. "Well, I did come in here to annoy you, but obviously you're in need of self-esteem so; reasons why you're amazing. For one thing, you can draw. I can't do that; the only thing I can draw is blueprints! Also you can cook, which I have discovered is NOT as easy as you make it seem."

Mikey chucked slightly. Encouraged by this Donatello continued. "And you have a great attitude to life, you always look on the bright side, which is not easy to do, and you have a brilliant way of cheering us up as well. And you look out for us, I mean seriously without you to bring me food and make sure I eat I'd be a walking skeleton. And you make Raph unwind and let off steam, which he needs. And you keep Leo on his toes as well. And splinter always smiled when get excited about things, because your energy is infectious."

"Also, you're a fantastic ninja, I mean, I know Leo nags you about sticking to the book, but let's face it, how many times have you confused an enemy and helped us out precisely because you haven't stuck to the book?"

"Dude, I'm totally gonna get a big head if you carry on." Mikey laughed.

"Alright, I'll stop. But my point is, Mikey, you are not useless or not gifted by any stretch of the imagination. And, alright maybe all the technical stuff isn't up your alleyway, but that doesn't matter. Because I can teach you, like I have been doing for the last three days, if you want."

Mikey leapt up at that and said. "Yeah! And I can teach you more cooking! And also, while we're pouring our heart out, you realise you're amazing as well, right?"

"Well obviously, without my technical expertise you'd be lost."

"Yeah, but seriously I mean, forget the technical stuff for a minute, you're an amazing listener, you always know the right things to say and I know we rib you a lot about being more brains than brawn but you're not a shoddy ninja either, I mean let's face it if you where you'd be dead. And you're kind and considerate as well. Also you have a calming presence about you, I mean, don't forget you were the first one April warmed up to."

"I suppose… when you put it like that, you're right"

"Oh brother of mine, both our egos are going to be massive when we get out of this room! Never mind, Leo and raph will put us right. So, we still going to teach each other how to cook and build?"

"Deal! But, we're going to have to wait till this challenge thing is over."

Mikey waved a hand. "Dude, there's only two days left, how hard can it be?"

Outside the door splinter smiled, glad that the two had talked. He considered, could he maybe? After all they had…no. that would look suspicious. He'd continue the challenge. Smiling, he walked off.

"Yeah…how hard can it be?" turning away so Mikey couldn't see his worried frown Donatello reached up and plucked a shoe-box from the top of his make-shift book-case.

"Whoa, what's that?"

"This is where I keep the instruction for everything I ever make. Here's the instructions for the t-phone, read those and follow them exactly and you should be able to fix the phone."

"Cool! What are you gonna do?"

Throwing himself down in the make-shift lab bed don pulled a note-book out from his belt and waved a pencil at Mikey. "Draw."

Meanwhile Splinter had a surprise when he walked into the living room. Raphael was there in top-gear clothes clearly about to go out. He cleared his throat. "Going somewhere my son?"

Raphael paused, silently mouthed a swear word, and turned around slowly. "I swear sensei; this is not what it looks like!"

"Oh really? Because it looks like you're about to sneak out. You appear to be forgetting you're Leonardo and Leonardo does not sneak out."

Raphael wringed his hands. "I know sensei, but this isn't for me."

Curiosity spiked Splinter raised an eyebrow. "Care to explain?" after Raphael had explained Splinter nodded. "Ah right. Well then, of course you may go out Raphael."

And with that he left to meditate.


	7. A present and a maths session

A present and a maths session

Hey! Roxy goth here just letting you know i have had more than one thousand views to this story! As you can imagine i'm chuffed to bits, so i posted this chapter as a bit of a celebration.

I do not own tmnt in any way shape or form.

The fifth day had been a good day. The four brothers trained well and with more confidence than they had the previous day.

"Dis is easy!" Raphael said, twirling Leonardo's katarna's in his hand. "I dunno why we neva' thought of dis before!"

"Probably because we never trusted each other to wield our weapons before." Leonardo pointed out, smirking.

At around about 2 in the afternoon Raphael strolled into the living room and chucked a present at Leonardo, who was lounging on the sofa. "'ere."

"You've got me a present?" Leonardo pulled himself up and stared at said present suspiciously. "Well, this is weird. It's not a bomb is it? Don't glare at me! You can't blame me for wondering; you never get me presents unless it's my birthday or Christmas and I'm pretty sure today is neither."

Raphael rolled his eyes. "Well, don't strain yourself with gratitude! Jesus…."

"No, it's lovely…I'm just...surprised, that's all. What is it?"

"You know the tradition is that you open it and then find out, I mean that's the idea."

Leonardo paused and opened it, he stared in amazement at the 'Captain Ryan' DVD in his hands. "What…?"

"Yeh, erm, it's a replacement. Y'know, for the one i scratched. I said was gonna make it up to ya and I did."

"When did you get it?"

"Last night. Sensei nearly busted me, but once I explained what I was doing he let me go."

"Wow, Leo…Raph…I don't know what to say…"

"Geez calm down, it's a DVD, not a marriage proposal…" Raphael got cut off when Leonardo hugged him tightly.

"Thank you."

Raphael paused, unsure what to do, love and affection had never come naturally to him, and eventually he settled for gingerly patting Leonardo's shell and saying. "Yeh, well, Y'know. Whatever."

Splinter smiled and left the room. Entering the kitchen he saw both Donatello and Michelangelo helping April with homework. "And then you times the diameter by pi, otherwise known as 3.14, and voila! The circumference of a circle!" Michelangelo finished, grinning wildly. "Isn't that right, Mikey?" he continued looking expectedly at his immediate older brother, while April scribbled the answer down, smiling slightly.

"Mikey?" the orange banded turtle repeated. Rolling his eyes he reached across the table to shove Donatello. "I'm talking to you!"

"What? Oh, right yes, of course. I'm Michelangelo." Donatello said uncertainly.

"Yes! I mean, c'mon Donnie, you should know this by now! We've only been doing it FIVE DAYS."

"It's confusing…"

"Dude, it's not that confusing, I can manage it!"

"Boys!" April cut in, before the mini-argument could go any further. "Next question please! C'mon try to concentrate, there are only five questions left and I'd like to get them done before Casey comes to pick me up in an hour."

"We'll be done by then." Donatello assured her, leaning over the maths book. "Alright, now for number 25…"

Splinter smiled as his second-youngest went into explanation mode; Mrs O'Neil had popped round an hour ago and had been surprised when both Michelangelo and Donatello came to assist her in her maths prep.

During her five-minute break she'd walked up to him "it's worked then? She said, simply. Splinter gave an affirmative nod and explained to her yesterday's events.

As he finished explaining she smiled. "That's good, and Leo and Raph…"

"They're done as well."

"Brilliant! Well, I'd better get cracking, only got an hour and a half before Casey picks me up." And with that she'd disappeared into the kitchen.

Later on after Mrs O'Neil and Mr Jones had left all had been quiet in the lair and the turtles were doing their various activities. Leonardo and Raphael were watching space heroes. Raphael as Leonardo had announced he was going to put it on and had invited his brothers to watch it with him.

Leonardo as Raphael had rolled his eyes and complained but sat down anyway, his eyes giving away his excitement.

At the floor of the sofa, Michelangelo was reading a couple of 'murderous maths' books, half his attention on that, half on the TV.

On the other side of the sofa, on the floor, Donatello was scribbling away in that mysterious little note-book.

Splinter watched them from his arm-chair and smiled happily to himself. Five days down and the task was going beautifully, and now there was only one day left and the rat felt sure it was going to be a breeze.


	8. And it all goes pear-shaped

Hey, Roxy Goth here with the next chapter – yay! Sorry I haven't updated in a while – life, eh?

I do not own Tmnt in any way shape or form.

The sixth day started off well, training was good and at the end the brothers came to an agreement. Once every month they would trade weapons for the day, that way, Leo reasoned, they'd keep on their toes a little better.

It was during lunch things came to a head, Splinter was out shopping and the turtles were eating spaghetti hoops that Don had heated up.

Staring at said hoops Mikey gave Donnie a look of pure despair. "I know I've already said this, but dude, I am so teaching you to cook more complicated stuff."

"I welcome the challenge." Don said, through a mouthful of hoops.

The four of them laughed and joked a little more, until Mikey noticed Don scribbling in that little purple notebook. Curious he leaned over and saw that Donnie was writing some complicated plan, by the looks of it. Hey, wait a minute…

"Don!" Mikey gasped. "You're not supposed to be inventing!"

"What?" Leo said, staring in confusion as Mikey grabbed the notebook out of Donatello's startled hands and thrust it under Raph's beak.

"Yeah, look!"

Sure enough, there was a plan for some complicated thing none of them could follow. As Raph quickly flicked over the pages he could guess that some of them had only recently been done. "So that's what you've been scribbling in this stupid book!"

"It's not stupid! Give it back!" Don lunged across the table, but Raph threw the book across to Leo who caught it and pocketed it.

"Sorry, Donnie, no can do. You know the rules. No inventing until after the 6th day."

"After the 6th day?! But that's 11 hours away!"

"Yeh, so? I'm sure you'll live." Raph said, flippantly.

"Alright then, Mikey, it's your turn to do the dishes." Mikey said, indicating the empty glasses and bowls. When Don failed to respond, Mikey subtly kicked him. "Don – the dishes."

Sort of mechanically Don picked up all their bowls and glasses and went to put them in the washing machine, however on his way he tripped over his own feet and fell beak-first on the floor. The glasses and bowls smashed.

Immediately all three brothers leapt up, all talking at once, the challenge forgotten.

"Don, are you alright!?"

"Dude, that was like something from one of those old fashioned silent movies!"

"Shut it, Mikey, Don are you alright?" Leo asked, with concern as Raph and Mikey got to work picking up the glass.

Donatello didn't say anything, just sat on the floor, staring into space.

Mikey picked up a shard of glass. "Dude, Splinters gonna be furious when he sees this. Who's gonna tell him?"

"I will." Leo said, getting his shell-cell out.

"Yo, fearless, what are we doing with all this glass?" Raph wanted to know.

"Dump it in the bin. We'll drop it down the recycling later. And be careful! The last thing I want to do is have to explain to sensei why you're all bleeding."

"Too late." Mikey muttered, sucking his blood-dripping finger.

"Oh, that's fantastic. Go get a bandage."

As Mikey ran of Leo and Raph did another check of the floor, always paid to be safe especially considering all of them went around bare-footed.

5 minutes later and Mikey came back in. "dude, are you alright?"

"We're fine." Raph, grumbled, examining a corner.

"Not you! Donnie."

Leonardo and Raphael both simultaneously turned their attention to their genius sibling, who had his arms wrapped around himself. "Donatello?" Leo asked tentively. "Are you alright?"

Looking around him Donatello said, in response. "Yeh…yeh…I'm, I'm….fine."

"Good, let's get back to it then." Raphael said, referring to the challenge, the three brothers sat back down as Donatello stood, shakily.

"Yo, Mikey!" Leo said, doing his best imitation of a Brooklyn accent [which was terrible] "You gonna sit down?"

"What? I'm Mikey?"

"_Yes_." Michelangelo said for what seemed to be the thousandth time. "For the last time! I'm you and you're me – got it?"

There was a silence at that, and then Don's breathing started to get heavier, his head was spinning, his mind was racing, he was confused, he had a thousand ideas bolting through his brain – and he needed to write them down in that notebook…damn! Where was that notebook?! Realising it wasn't with him and not being able to remember where it was, Donatello panicked, the walls were closing in, his brothers mouths were moving, but no words were coming out. He had to get out of here! And then he bolted into the sewer tunnels.

After that strange outburst the reaming brothers sat in stunned silence for about ten minutes until Splinter arrived at the kitchen door. "Why do I need new glasses and bowls? What havoc have you four been wrecking upon my kitchen? And where's Donatello?"


	9. An interesting development

Hey, Roxy Goth here, sorry I haven't updated in a while, life gets in the way. So here's the next chapter – enjoy!

By the way if any of you get the 'way the beans go' joke/quote Leo makes, I will give you a shout out.

See previous chapters for the disclaimer.

"Donatello?" Leonardo said, nervously.

Honestly, he sounded as if he'd never heard the name before, Splinter thought, glaring at his eldest. "Yes, Donatello, your brother. About yay high, wears a purple bandanna and carries a bo-staff, very fond of technical things – sounds familiar?"

Scratching his neck sheepishly Leonardo muttered. "Ah yes, that Donatello…"

"Mmm yes, that Donatello. So now we're all aware of whom he is; care to answer my question? Where. Is. He?"

"Well, funny story sensei, you're gonna love this…so you see…"And with that the blue-banded turtle recapped everything that had happened within the last half an hour. "And that's what happened and I suppose, now that I've said it out loud, it's not…really…that….funny is it?"

"No it isn't." on hearing this Leonardo's neck went into his shell a little bit. "And pray tell me, where is this little notebook you said you confiscated from Donatello?"

Silently his eldest son fished the note-book out his belt ad chucked it to Splinter who caught it and spent about two minutes flicking through it. "Ah, this is interesting."

"How?" Mikey asked, speaking for the first time since Splinter had entered the kitchen.

"When I first discovered he was still inventing I told Donatello that seeing as he was being you, Michelangelo, he must take up your hobbies, I gave drawing as an example, looks like he took it to heart."

"So basically, he found a loophole." Raph cut in, bluntly.

"Pretty much, yes. Hhmm. Well, I must admit it, this is a development I did not see coming. Maybe I should have stopped the challenge early." The old rat muttered the last part under his breath, unfortunately he temporarily forgot his sons were ninjas, he was reminded when Mikey said, slightly accusingly.

"What do you mean you should've stopped the challenge early?"

Splinter paused, ah. Busted. Never mind may as well come clean. "Well you see this challenge may not had been entirely left up to chance….I asked Mrs O'Neil to pick the names that you ended up swapping with in order to make sure you would appreciate each other's view."

"So basically, you rigged it?" Raphael was on fire today.

"Yes, if you must put it that way, I prefer the term 'gave you a little shove in the right direction', actually, but each to their own. The idea was that you'd gain a deeper understanding of each other and have a bit more respect for each other as well."

"Well, we did that alright." Leonardo smiled. "This must be the first time in forever me and Raph have sat at the kitchen table and not nearly killed each other over which way the beans go in the cupboard."

"They go westwards." Raph said, managing to keep a straight face.

"Oh really? In your face!" Leo shook his fist in Raph's direction and all three brothers laughed.

Splinter coughed to get their attention. "However you actually completed my challenge on two separate days, Leonardo and Raphael on the third, Donatello and Michelangelo on the fourth. I should have stopped it there, but I didn't want to arise suspicion by stopping it two days early. Although, now I wish I had…"

"No need to beat yourself up over it sensei." Leonardo advised.

"Yeah, nobody's perfect." Raphael added.

"Not even a psychic rat!" Michelangelo finished, earning a whack around the head by Raphael and a 'For god's sake, Mikey! We're supposed to be making him feel better, not worse!" From Leonardo.

Splinter allowed himself a laugh before setting his features to neutral. "Believe me, my son's, it is not I you should be making feel better, I believe Donatello needs some brotherly comfort and reassurance right now, after you've done that bring him to me so I can have a word with him." And with that the three brothers set out to find their missing quarter.


	10. Leatherhead intervenes

Hey! Don't worry, I'm alive. So, this is the second to last chapter. Sorry! Never mind. By the way, none of you got the 'which way the beans went in the tin' reference, it was from comedian Jon Richardson, really funny man, you should check him out! Anyway, on with the story!

By the way, I decided to include leatherhead in this chapter, although I have only seen him in 'good genes', so he might be a little bit OOC. I also don't know what his lab looks like.

See chapter one for disclaimer.

Donatello ran as fast as he could down the sewers, until eventually he stopped and jst burst into tears. He sank down the wall, crying and rocking himself gently. At some point dug his nails into himself and bit his lip so hard it bled.

Then a voice said from above him. "Donatello, my friend. What is the matter?" Through tear-filled eyes Donatello looked up to see Leatherhead looking down at him, concern evident in his eyes. "I heard you screaming."

He'd screamed? When had he done that? The purple-banded turtle tried to explain what had happened, but found himself unable to get the words out and just ended up breaking down again.

Leatherhead himself frowned a little at that. He'd never seen his friend like this in all the time he'd known him. The tech-lovin turtle had always seemed to calm, well-presented and collected. Now he looked none of those things. Of course, there was the question of what had happened. Has he been attacked? Probably not, apart from his lip nothing was bleeding. Then again he was hardly in a position to exanimate him…unless…

"Donatello, my friend I am going to take you back to my lab, alright?" The alligator stated. He felt given the circumstances precise, clear instructions were needed.

He waited until the turtle had shakily nodded before scooping him up and carrying him back to his lab. He noted Donatello wrapped his arms around his neck, like a scared child.

After putting him on the examination table, Leatherhead checked Donatello over properly. After stemming the bleeding from his lip, all Leatherhead could conclude was that he'd had a panic attack. Now the next question was what had caused it…wait. His brothers, did they know?

Leatherhead quickly searched for his phone which was typically not where he thought it was, but a couple of minutes later and he was ringing Leonardo.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Leonardo."

"Leatherhead? Sorry, but this isn't a great time, Donnie's disappeared and sensei….let's just say he isn't exactly over the moon….oh! Can you keep an eye out for Don?"

"I can do better than that. I can tell you where he is. He's with me in my lab, recovering from what appears to have been a panic attack. Care to explain what happened?"

"As soon as we get there, yes."

Five minutes later and all three remaining brothers were in the alligator's lab, having given Leatherhead a quick recap of what had happened.

"Has he calmed down now?" Raph sounded sarcastic, but the worry was evident in his eyes.

"Yes, h is asleep though. Would you like me to wake him up?"

"I'll do it." Mikey cut in, going over to his immediate older brother and shaking him gently. "Don? Doooonnn? Wake uuuppp."

After a bit more shaking Don did eventually wake up, pulling himself to a sitting position he glanced at his brothers. "Why am I in Leatherheads lab?"

"You appear to have had a panic attack. What's the last thing you remember?" Leatherhead himself said, from a corner of the lab.

"I fell…then I heard Mikey telling me that I was him and he was me." Don put his head in his hands. "It was confusing, and I had so many ideas, and I couldn't write them…where's my notebook?!"

"Sensei has it." Leo said immediately, not wanting to risk another attack. "He's back at home."

"Home?"

"Yeah, you know that place with the garage and the dojo and the kitchen where we have pizza." Mikey smacked his beak before continuing. "Although I'm not surprised you don't remember it, considering you spend about half the day in your lab."

Don smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. Are we going home then?"

"Yeah, I suppose so. See you leatherhead." Leo turned to leave, however…

"Hold on a minute, panic attacks are no light matter. I want to observe you for at least the next week." Leatherhead informed Donatello, sternly.

"Leatherhead, I have a lab, I can do that myself."

"Donatello, my friend, I know you, you will say everything is fine when it isn't. No, I will observe you. Then I know you are alright."

Seeing there was no arguing with him, Donatello sighed in agreement and all four brothers headed back home.

Halfway down the sewers though, Leo stopped Don. "Hold on a minute don, I have a question, well, two actually. One, why did you run? And second why do you invent so much?"

Don paused and considered before slowly saying. "I invent to keep myself calm. You have meditation, Mikey had cooking, and Raph has biking. I invent. I ran…because it got so confusing. We were all being each other, and I could handle it for the first few days, but then it just went on to long. So I guess I broke down. I'm sorry; you must think I'm a right wimp."

Leo immediately pulled his brother into a hug, while Raph and Mikey patted Don's shell, comfortingly.

"We don't think you're a wimp." Leo said gently. "We all have our limitations, and I guess we found yours. Six days of name-slash-personality-swapping."

"Right. So now we've had this bit of brotherly…love…bonding…or whatever the shell you wanna call it, shall we go talk to sensei?" Raph said.

"Sensei?"

"Yeah, he wanted to talk to you after we brought you back. So prepare yourself." And with that Mikey swung the lair door open.


End file.
